Take your time

After they had been lying there for a while, Light stood up and said, "Well, I guess it's time for me to go."

Gen then stood up as well and said, "We still have a little time. Don't you want to stay a little longer?", "Better not. Even though they are stuck in my place, it's not the same. I better go soon so that nothing wrong happens."

"Got it."

Light went towards him, hugged him, and said, "Bye, Gen."

Gen put his hand on her head and said, "You mean, see you later, right?"

"... Yeah, see you later."

The two then walked away from each other, and Light walked towards Eli.

She then took the black lines that were binding him and released him from them.

When he was released from the black lines, Eli asked, "Are you guys done?"

Gen then said, "Yes."

"Ok."

Eli then looked towards Dehji, released him from the Lines, and said, "Light, whenever you are ready."

Light then said, ".... Ahh, let's get this over with."

She then walked toward the center of the room and said, "Okay, you can start."

Eli then said, "Okay.", and then the black lines in the room began to go toward Light and started gradually bounding her body.

As this was happening, Gen, Eli, and Dehji looked in her direction and were silent.

Seeing this, she said, "Dehji!"

Dehji was startled to be called by her and then said, "Y-Yes?"

"Because of certain problems Gen has caused, Eli and I are very limited in our essences, so with you being the only one who can use your essence freely, you're going to have to take responsibility for protecting the idiot that Gen is."

"I understand. Leave it to me."

"Good, now that you've agreed, if I wake up again with Gen near death, you'll have to deal with me."

"..."

She then continued, "Eli, I know your essence is also limited. However, whenever possible, help these two idiots. Dehji alone won't be able to take care of Gen."

Eli then said, "I will."

She then turned to Gen and said, "As for you, troublemaker. See if you can go a week without almost dying."

Gen looked at her and said, "Hmm, it'll be hard, but I'll try."

Hearing this, Light frowned and looked in Gen's direction. The two of them stared at each other for a while until they both started laughing.

Light then said, "Hahaha, you're no good, Gen. I know you're joking, but I bet in about five days at the most, you'll be in trouble again, hahaha."

Gen then said, "Hey, give me some more time at least. I think I can manage a month."

When Eli heard this, he said, "That's right, Light, Gen deserves a little more trust. I give him a week for something to happen."

"That's right, at least a week ... wait, no! Hey Eli! There have been several times that I've gone more than a week without getting in trouble."

Dehji then said, "And you think sometimes is a good thing?"

And Gen said, "Hey, what's going on here? I thought we were going to have a touching moment saying goodbye to Light, but out of the blue, it became the moment to badmouth Gen."

Light then started laughing, "Hahaha."

And Gen said, "Hey, what's so funny?", and right after that, Eli and Dehji couldn't take it and also started laughing, "Pfft, hahaha.", "Hahaha."

Gen looked at this and said, "Guys, what's going on here?", but none of them stopped laughing and seeing this, Gen spoke, "You guys are really no good. hahaha."

They continued laughing for a few seconds until Light said, "Ahh, I'm going to miss this. Eli, let's go before I regret it."

Eli then said, "Ok, bye, Light.", and continued to restrain her.

Light was staring at them with a smile, and slowly, her eyes began to close.

Upon seeing this, Gen said, "Light! I-", but was interrupted by her, who said with a smile, "I know ... just don't take another three years."

"You bet I'll get you out of there as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Gen ..."

Right after saying this, her eyes closed and everyone was silent.

Gen was standing looking in her direction, but suddenly, as if he had lost the strength in his legs, he fell on his butt.

Seeing this, Eli and Dehji came towards him and asked respectively, "Hey Gen, are you okay?", "What happened?", but as they got closer, they noticed that he was crying.

Gen then said, "How can I feel good knowing all that Light has been going through during these three years is my fault? I thought I was doing my best, but she was right. I was taking my time."

Gen then continued, "As of today, there's no more fooling around."

He then stood up and said, "I think it's time for me to go back outside."

And Eli said, "... That's true-", but suddenly he was interrupted.

On his arms, legs, neck, and mouth appeared black lines that bound him, and he then said, "Well, it looks like I can't stay anymore either. Bye, Gen.", and then he disappeared from the room.

Seeing this, Gen said, "Well, I'm going, Dehji."

And Dehji said, "Gen, I promise you that if you get the essences of my siblings, you will be able to solve all of this."

"... okay, thanks, Dehji.", and then he disappeared and returned to the real world.

Dehji was left alone in the room and thought, 'The only problem will be her essence ... ahhh, there's no use thinking about that now. I bet Gen will figure it out ... I hope.'

...

Meanwhile, in the real world.

Raja, Gerald, and Karin were sitting at a table waiting for Gen to wake up. Gerald then asked, "What's going on with Gen?"

Raja then replied, "He's in his inner world."

"Inner world? What is that?"

"The inner world ...", and explained to both of them what it was about.

Upon hearing this, Karin asked, "Do all awakened people have an inner world?"

And Raja said, "Yes."

"How do I get in there?"

"Your essence needs to call you in there."

"And how do I get it to call me in?"

"You just have to ask it."

Karin then closed her eyes for a while and, after a few minutes, opened them and said, "I've asked several times, but my essence hasn't called me inside. What's going on?"

"Don't worry. It's normal not to be able to enter right after awakening the essence. After all, your essence would need to have consciousness in order to call you, and most of them do not have it when they have just been understood."

Gerald then asked, "Do essences have consciousness?"

And Raja said, "Gerald ... yes, after some time of existence, some of them develop consciousness."

Karin then said, "What do you mean some? Could it be that mine will not develop it?"

And Raja said, "Karin, I would love to answer you, but for Gerald's sake, I shouldn't speak about this, at least not now."

Gerald then asked, "What do you mean, Raja? Why can't I know about this?"

And Raja said, "Gerald, you have to understand that everything has its time. A baby first learns to sit, then crawl, and then walk."

"What is this baby stuff out of nowhere?"

"Well, it's just that I've watched my nephew grow, and ... Wait, that's not the point, I'm just making an analogy. You haven't even grasped your essence yet, Gerald, so you are like a fetus, in this case, a fetus of about seven months because you are a rank red diamond. A baby can be born at seven months, but ideally, it should be born at nine to be healthier. In the same way, you better take your time to awaken, and then you can seek to understand more about essences."

"I don't understand, Raja. Why would awakening earlier hinder me?"

"Well, there are several things that could happen. For example, by understanding more about essences, your view of them could end up changing, which in turn could cause you to change the essence you are going after. It could also be that as you accelerate your awakening, the essence that would be awakened becomes a lower essence because you lacked some kind of understanding, or in the worst case, you could awaken the essence of the person who is explaining it to you."

"I understand, but why would it be bad to learn, let's say, your essence, for example?"

"It's bad because it is my essence. It develops based on my understanding of it, and that means that to level up, you would have to keep learning from me or using my essence. You could discover your path, thus ceasing to be dependent, but the vast majority of the time, one remains dependent forever."

Gerald then made it as if he wanted to say something more, but Karin stopped him and said, "He is right, Gerald. Take your time to awaken, no matter what happens, I will always be there to protect you."

Gerald was surprised by Karin's words, and then he took her hand and said, "Ok, Karin. I don't know how long it will take for me to become awakened, but I promise you that when I do, I will never let anything bad happen to you."

"Hahaha, I know that."

They then stared at each other eyes, and Raja, seeing this, thought, 'What?! How did things come to this?! We were having a nice chat about essences, and out of nowhere, I started holding a candle to them! They're not going to kiss, are they?! Gen, you have to wake up soon so I can get out of here!'

Raja then turned toward Gen and realized that he was shaking a little, and then thought, 'Thank you!'